I've gotten to talk about my AZ Trail hike with a few scout troops and groups over the past month. The most common question I'm getting is how to lighten a pack for a backpacking trip.I tell about all the ways I cut out ounces and pounds from gear, staying safe and comfortable and making smart choices. I save the best tip for the end. It costs nothing, saves your body work, and makes a larger impact than all the other gear tweaking you can do.

I reduced my pack weight from around 40 pounds to around 25 pounds by making a light shelter, quilt, and pack, reducing redundancies, and purchasing a few lightweight items. That includes food and water, so carrying less water and stopping more often to fill up water can make your pack even lighter. I removed about 15 pounds from my pack that I didn't have to lug from Mexico to Utah.

During my 6 weeks on the trail, I lost about 14 pounds. Most of that was in the first 2 weeks and then I stabilized as I got used to eating, hiking, and sleeping. Just by losing weight off my body, I nearly reached the weight savings that I got from all the gear tweaking I did!

GoiPlanning a trek with the idea of "This will be a great way for me to lose a few pounds!" is NOT a good idea. Your body will need calories to function properly on the trail and holding back the food it needs will cause you to be weak and increase the risk of injury. If it's a long trek, you will most likely lose some weight anyway, but that should not be your plan. I lost weight because I did not force myself to eat as many calories as I was burning each day - I should have eaten more.

A better idea is to lose some weight before a trek. For two or three months before your backpacking trip, while you're doing practice hikes and getting physically ready, cut back on the ice cream, hamburgers, soda, chips, and all that other fattening stuff. The increased physical exercise will burn from 100 to 150 calories per mile, depending on your body and pack weight. Since there's about 3500 calories in a pound of fat, you'll need to hike around 350 miles to remove 10 pounds of fat. More than you thought, huh?

That fat won't burn off if you increase your food consumption. "Hey, I hiked 6 miles. I can have a second bratwurst" will stop you from losing any weight. Self-discipline is the key to long-term weight lose - that or a personal trainer.

However you do it, losing weight before starting a backpacking trip or long hike is the best way to reduce the complete package you need to haul over mountains and valleys. Besides, you'll be a better role model and more ready to take on any other challenges that come along.

The sun's just peeking over the horizon for the start of a gorgeous new day. All is quiet in camp except for muffled snoring from some adult tent nearby. No scouts have stirred, no coffee or bacon aroma on the breeze, and no reason to emerge from the warmth and comfort of my sleeping bag. I resist the temptation to roll over and collect another dozen winks before the chaos begins.

Throwing on my fleece and slipping into my camp shoes, I unzip the tent as quietly as possible, which still sounds like an irritated rattlesnake and is sure to wake someone. As I emerge from my safe nylon shelter, the world is fresh and wild before me, unspoiled and unaware of the day ahead. This is the time of day reserved just for me, for me and the wildlife.

Exploring with scouts is one of the most enjoyable ways I can imagine to spend a day, but the style of exploration is different. A dozen or twenty feet clomping through the woods, with or without a handful of voices being exercised, makes for less than ideal wildlife viewing expectations. By the time we would notice them, most animals have long ago fled our invasion. We occasionally encounter a deaf deer or lame rabbit, but that is the rare exception.

Any hope of experiencing the local fauna requires an early rise and solitude. That's why I venture out alone before the camp wakes. I head into the breeze, slow and watchful, with high hopes. My reward may be nothing more than a lost feather on the trail or a set of fresh racoon prints. But, on the other hand, I may catch a trio of turkeys unaware or twin fawns cavorting in a meadow. It's the anticipation and possibility that make the early morning hike such an adventure.

This morning, I'm not with scouts. I'm on vacation Up North with my wife. But, I still got out early and enjoyed the sunrise before others at Pehrson Lodge were out and about. A short walk through the woods rewarded me with plenty of spider webs across my face, some dew-soaked shins and shoes, and loons, ducks, and heron on the lake.

Now, on with the day ahead to share with everyone. I've had my selfish refreshing time with nature and am ready for the motorboats, fishermen, swimmers, bikers, and the rest of humanity out here, like me, getting away from it all.

The Red Cross is asking for much needed blood donations this summer. Scouts and Scouters that are at least 16 and weigh 110pounds have a great opportunity to do a simple, but valuable, Good Turn by pumping out just a pint of their blood. It's easy, and you even get cookies and juice!

The Red Cross says its blood supply has reached emergency low levels, with 50,000 fewer donations than expected in June. This shortfall leaves about half the readily available blood products on hand today than at this time last year.

Every two seconds in the USA, someone needs a blood transfusion and the Red Cross needs to gather 17,000 pints each day for patients in over 3,000 hospitals across the country.

I've given over 6 gallons of blood, starting in college when the fraternities had a contest each semester to see which could give the most.

In case you haven't noticed, the Boy Scouts are embracing technology across the board - from merit badges for Robotics, Computers, and Electronics, to Jamboree infrastructure, to the new STEM program.

In an effort to promote online safety, the BSA has created a Cyber Chip program. Requirements vary by age group but include signing a pledge, watching a video, telling someone else, and talking to your leader. After completing the requirements, a scout can purchase a card and/or patch.Read BSA page

Troop 479 in Eden Prairie, MN created the Tech Chip a couple years ago to promote proper education on technology use. This addresses personal electronic devices rather than online safety. It includes requirements and a training plan. Units can purchase cards for scouts, which is a small fundraiser for Troop 479.

With the majority of people carrying personal electronics, adult volunteers that simply ban scouts from having them is sooo last century. Educating people and setting expectations is really the better way to solve a perceived problem.Read the Tech Chip info for details.

Accepting, integrating, and adapting to change is the right way to keep a program engaging and interesting. Find out from your scouts what technology they'd like to include in their Scouting experience and then help them plan activities that interest them.Has anyone asked about Robotics merit badge? How about the BlastCars? Or the STEM/NOVA awards? A good leader will discover new opportunities for scouts and then let them decide if they want to do them or not.

Since I returned from my AZT hike, I've presented Red Cross CPR/AED and Wilderness First Aid training four times to over 50 people and will be doing it the next two weekends as well. Last week, I presented to the high adventure staff of a local BSA camp. They've got a very busy summer ahead of them and I was glad to see they're taking their responsibility of caring for the youth seriously. That camp is starting an ATV program this summer and were just sending a couple staff to a special training session to get cleared to run the program. I expect it will be popular!

Lots of demand for WRFA training because it's now required for Philmont, SeaBase, Northern Tier, and highly recommended for all unit-run treks. I expect The Summit will require it as well. It's a lot of fun to do and I always enjoy meeting more Scouters from the area. It does make for a long weekend, though, since we do a lot of hands-on scenarios.

The Red Cross could use more people presenting this training, so please consider contacting your local chapter about becoming an instructor. It's a great way to make Scouting safer for everyone.

The BSA announced the new Search and Rescue merit badge today at a casino in Nevada. Why there? The 2012 National Search and Rescue Conference is going on there today, so it makes sense. The requirements aren't public yet, but should be available soon. It sounds like it could be a very fun (and popular) merit badge, possibly combining skills in first aid, navigation, leave no trace, knots, and lifesaving. It should certainly fit nicely in Many Point Scout Camp's All Things Emergency Response program this summer.

The Kayaking merit badge has also been announced and is due out on June 13. This is scheduled to cover basic flat-water kayaking skills and safety, leaving whitewater kayaking as part of the Whitewater merit badge.I see it as a good addition to the Canoeing, Motorboating, Rowing, Smallboat Sailing, and Water Sports merit badges.

Scouting magazine is giving away three backpacks in June. You can enter every day to boost your chances of winning.Enter NowThe packs are: Deuter AIRCONTACT, Osprey Atmos, and Columbia SilverRidge

Cobra Braid has contributed some survival bracelets for the monthly contests here on Boy Scout Trail. You can now win a Scout Shop gift card, ClassB.com coupon, or survival bracelet each month. Just click the 'Triple Prizes' link at the top of the page.

Boys' Life has a bunch of contests going on. You can see them all on their Contest page.

Today, I received this Facebook request from Dean Maragh in Sheffield, England. Any of you Cubmasters or Den Leaders interested in interacting with a Scouting brother across the big puddle?I am an assistant Beaver Scout Leader in England.Beaver Scouts are aged 6-8 years old and are the equivalent of your Cub Scouts.

We meet on Wednesdays and are having an American themed evening for the 4th of July. We would love to hook up with an American Cub Pack somehow. Because of the time differences, live hook up via skype is probably unrealistic but we thought we might swap videos of our Beavers, each one saying something about Scouting, School or their hobbies.Anyone interested?

If you are interested, I'll leave it up to you to Contact Dean through my Facebook page.

Photos from my Arizona Trail hike are online now. I put them into a Google Maps / Google Earth file just for something different.You can see a map of the trail with thumbnail images near the location where the photo was taken. This is done by using the time the photo was taken which is embeded in the photo by the digital camera and the tracking points from the Spot Messenger I used on my hike. The tracking messages contain a Lat/Lon location and the time. Some free software works its way through the waypoints and the photos and creates a KML file for Google to read. I used GPicSync, but there are other packages out there.Google Maps views the photos in a web page. If you view the file in Google Earth, you can take a tour which automatically hops through the photos and locations. (Open KMZ file (200KB) in Google Earth)

Well, if you want to take a look, click the 'Map' link on my AZ Trail page. On that page, you can also check out gear, food, and expenses from the trip.

For the rest of May, Scouting magazine is running a contest to give away free water filration items. Camelbak, SteriPen, and Platypus have all provided drinking water items for the give-away and you won't win if you don't enter.

Enter today, and every day in May, to boost your odds - go to this Scouting Magazine link.

These items would be great for troop or crew backpacking trips. Our troop has used gravity filters like the Platypus for 3 years now and they make life much easier at camp. I used a similar filter the entire time on my 6-week Arizona hike and loved to see tan water come out clear.

Get all the adults in your troop to enter and maybe one of you will win some gear for your unit's summer trips! The package is worth about $300.

Webelos have recently crossed over. Maybe you've got a few guys that just joined and are brand new to Scouting. Growth spurts causing clothes to no longer fit. It's a great time for a Buy One Get One sale on uniforms!

Check out the ScoutStuff.org BOGO sale on uniform shirts and pants for the next week. Youth zip-off pants are $20 instead of $40 - buddy up with another scout and each get a pair. It's a perfect opportunity to help your troop complete the lower half of the uniform.

And, what about those uniforms that are outgrown but not worn out? You should volunteer to start a uniform exchange in your troop or at the district level. It's a great way to pass on items that are still usable. An annual uniform garage sale is another option so folks can resell items, get back some of their cost, and others can save big.